The San Bruno Park School District is celebrating its century mark in style next weekend.

District officials have put together several activities, and its eight schools have done some sort of event each month leading up to the big birthday bash. The weekend-long celebration includes barbecues, burying a time capsule, a dance and a parade.

“This is the big finale,” said Russ Hanley, chairman of the district’s centennial committee and the president of the school board.

Hanley, a retired math teacher in the district, said a major part of the centennial activities has been educating the community about the district’s history with the community. A link on the district’s Web site was put together for that purpose. The link also includes a schedule of the weekend’s centennial activities.

The site has a timeline with tidbits of information, such as how the district’s first school on El Camino Real was built with volunteer labor and how the district’s first bond for $1,000 was approved by a 19-8 vote. It also indicates that the enrollment reached a high of 5,032 students in 1967.

Twenty-five years from now, students will get a history lesson on 2007, when they open a time capsule that will be buried Saturday at the district’s office. The city is donating a plant and a plaque for the time capsule ceremony, and Hanley made a DVD with the history of each school.

“It’s sort of like a mini-museum,” Hanley said.

But before the weekend fun starts, Portola Elementary will cap the campus celebrations Thursday. The school’s fifth- and sixth-graders are starring in a play that re-enacts the district’s beginnings, when people flocked to the area after the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

“It’s a nice little history lesson,” Portola Principal Charlie Rohrbach said. “We saved the best for last. (The student) performance is out of this world.”

Portola students, like their classmates at the district’s other schools, are gearing up to take part in the festivities. They are busy preparing floats for the city’s 67th annual Posy Parade on June 3.

The actual birthday begins Friday with a barbecue, courtesy of the San Bruno Rotary Club. The event takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. in San Bruno Park. It includes free hot dogs and burgers, and free non-alcoholic drinks.

A poker run, in which participants go to each school to collect cards and the highest hand, is scheduled for Saturday, if more people sign up. The first-place prize for the best hand is $250.

Other events include a dinner dance and a silent auction Saturday for adults. The San Francisco Giants have donated autographed baseballs, jerseys and other items for the auction, and there will be a drawing for a trip to Disneyland.

For more information and to purchase tickets for the poker run and dinner dance, call the district at (650) 624-3100, or visit the district’s Web site at http://www.sbsd.k12.ca.us.

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